Well it bothers me i don't use iexplore or wmp everytime i make up an unattended cd or dvd i disable them but if you go on the net some sites only prefer iexplore, windows xp for example will still install iexplore. MS internet explorer, security updates every week or day. Grab firefox .
I think the N version was created for European countries due to some monopoly issues the EU has with Microsoft. In other words, the N version is a gimped/stripped down/crippled version. You can always use some other browser instead of IE, or some other media player instead of WMP if they bother you so much. On another note, it would be great if Microsoft, or some good hacker, can strip Win7 down to a bare minimum to the size of a bootable CD and run like Knoppix without the need to install anything to the hard drive.